prehistoric

The dramatic retreat of a glacier in the Arctic has just revealed a spectacular “graveyard” of prehistoric whales

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The Arctic is is melting at a dizzying rateas we have repeated on many occasions, and in doing so, it is giving us back time capsules that had been under the ice for millennia. The last of these findings seems to be taken from a fiction novel, since it has revealed an authentic prehistoric cemetery of whales that has come to light after the fracture of a glacier in less than two decades. How it looked. This is where the expedition of the Arctic and Antarctic Institute of Russia (AARI) intervenes, which had as its original objective the study of permafrost in the region. However, upon arriving at the area, the researchers found a big surprise. As detailed by the researcher himself Nikita Demidov, satellite images and measurements on site confirmed that a large local glacier had split dramatically in a period of less than 20 years. And this fracture exposed a marine terrace hidden under the ice, revealing an unusual concentration of whale skeletons. And the best thing is that, thanks to being buried under the ice, have been preserved in an exceptional way. What were they doing there? In reality, the presence of this “cemetery” is not a coincidence, but experts point out that these remains are the key to understanding extreme paleographic events. Specifically, they indicate the existence of very rapid changes in sea level that occurred thousands of years ago. And the truth is that behind this there is a large amount of bibliography. A study published in 1995 already analyzed the postglacial emergence in the western area of ​​Franz Josef Land, using radiocarbon dating dating back to 10,400 years ago. The warm-up. The rapid decline observed by Demidov fits perfectly with recent scientific literature, since a study published this same 2025 in it Journal of Glaciology on the balance of glacier masses in the archipelago between 1991 and 2022 empirically confirms the acceleration of melting linked to climate change. You have to wait. Despite the spectacular nature of the images and the dissemination of the news through the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the scientific community calls for caution. Currently, the origin of the data is an institutional statement from AARI itself and if we search scientific databases, there is no academic article that has been reviewed that specifically details this finding. And the next step for Demidov and his team will be to analyze the remains in the laboratory, date the bones precisely and publish their conclusions so that the international scientific community can evaluate them. Until then, the whale cemetery on Wilczek Island remains a monumental and silent witness to the abrupt changes of the Earth; both those that occurred millennia ago, and those that we are causing today. Images | Pascale Amez In Xataka | In the remote Svalbard archipelago there is something that confuses and fascinates scientists in equal measure: a glacier that “beats”

“prehistoric fish with armored teeth does not exist, it cannot harm you.” The prehistoric fish with armored teeth:

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“If you had been in Cleveland 360 million years ago, you would be swimming for your life,” said Rachael Funnel a few days ago and the truth is that he is absolutely right in the world. Not only because, at that time, the area in which the North American city is located was a shallow ocean, but because in those waters there was an exceptionally bizarre bug. Welcome to the world of Dunkleosteus terrelli. The fact that? In essence, a predator measuring more than four meters very different from any fish alive today. Although, to tell the truth, they were also different from any fish from 360 million years ago. And why are we talking about this now? Because it was just published a study in Anatomical Record in which the best preserved remains of the species (preserved for millions of years in layers of black shale) have been analyzed. And honestly, what they found is a little scary. They have been able to analyze in detail the bone plates that ‘armored’ the head and trunk of these fish. Furthermore, by analyzing muscle inserts and bone canals, they have unraveled the functional characteristics of the jaw, showing that, in short, we are facing a terrible predator. But ‘terrible’ in the literal sense. To begin with, because D. Terrelli It did not have teeth in the conventional sense: they had large blades of bone that worked with enormous blades that captured and tore apart everything they caught. To continue, because it is one of the first examples of the existence of a specific jaw muscle. The science of sea monsters. He Dunkleosteus terrelli is not news to us: “the last important work that examined in detail the mandibular anatomy of Dunkleosteus was published in 1932, when the anatomy of arthrodirans was still little known”, remembered Russell Engelmanprincipal investigator. For years (for decades!), we have been content to put bones back together correctly and that has prevented us from fully understanding what was happening. For example, not understanding the functionality of these creatures has prevented us from understanding many fundamental characteristics of sharks from an evolutionary point of view. In the end, behind all those bone plates, there was a huge amount of cartilage. That is to say, once again, the world of monsters hides many interesting things to understand natural history. Something that, although it may not seem like it, we still need. Image | Nell Conway In Xataka | We have found two prehistoric sea monsters in the largest cave in the world after 325 million years

The last case of prehistoric cannibalism found in Atapuerca only has a brutal explanation: violence

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There are few prehistoric cultures that we know practiced cannibalism. Already out of ritual, famine or in a context of violent conflict, the consumption of human flesh should not have to be completely uncommon, and now we have found a new example nearby, in Atapuerca. Canibalism in the Neolithic. A study of bone remains found in the cave of El Mirador, one of the deposits of Atapuerca, Burgos, He has found Canibalism tests among the inhabitants of this Burgos cave. The remains have been dated about 5,700 years ago, during the Neolithic. The remains found would have belonged to 11 individuals of different ages: “Including children, adolescents and adults,” explains the team responsible for the study. These data, they explain, point to a “systematic consumption”, probably linked to violence between groups and not to rituals or ceremonial acts. Ethnography and archeology teach us that even in barely stratified societies there are episodes of violence where enemies are also consumption as a form of extreme elimination ”, stood out in a press release Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo, co-author of the study. Incriminatory brands.The remains, in an “exceptional state”, were found in two different sectors of the cave. The taphonomic analysis of the remains (the study of the process that leads to some bone remains to fossilize), allowed to identify in these remains of cutting and fractures that allowed access the marrowas well as cooking tests and footprints left by human teeth during consumption. The team also conducted an isotopic strontium analysis (SR), which studies the relative presence of two isotopes of this element (⁸⁷sr and ⁸⁶sr) that showed that the individuals consumed “were of local origin.” The analysis also showed that its consumption was fast. The radiocarbon analysis, meanwhile, allowed to date the remains, placing them in a time space between 5,700 and 5,570 years before the present. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Scientific Reports. Interpret the incomprehensible. Today cannibalism is abominable, to the point of being taboo in life or death contexts. That is why interpreting these past practices is difficult for those who study them. After analyzing the tests found, the team concluded that the case responded to a confrontation between livestock groups in the area. This conflict I would have concluded With the “elimination of a complete family group”, a elimination made if it can be more tangible with the consumption of the group’s meat. “Canibalism is one of the most complex behaviors of interpreting, due to the difficulty that the consumption of human beings by other human beings implies. To this it is added that, in many cases, we do not have all the necessary evidence to link it with a specific behavioral context. Finally, the prejudices of our society tend to always interpret it as an act of barbarism,” pointed in the press release Palmira Saladié, who led the team responsible for the study. Of the Neolithic at the Bronze Age. This would not be an isolated case in the history of the Cave of El Mirador, not even the most recent. The finding is linked to a previous discovery, another case of cannibalism in the same environment, only that this already in the Bronze Age, between 4,600 and 4,100 years ago. “The recurrence of these practices at different times of recent prehistory in the cave of El Mirador makes this deposit a key site to understand prehistoric human cannibalism and their link with death, as well as with a possible ritual or cultural interpretation of the human body within the worldview of those groups,” Saladié added. In Xataka | Cup -shaped skulls, cannibal practices and other things that were done in Malaga 7,000 years ago Image | IPhes-Cerca

We have found strange prehistoric spheres in the middle of the Amazon. Inside, human bones and animals

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Sometimes only coincidences can open the way to certain findings. A tree that falls and the eyes attentive to a place can be the spark that gives rise to an unexpected discovery. Spherical urns. A group of archaeologists assisted by local communities has been responsible for finding curious ceramic spheres buried in an alluvial plain in the middle of Amazonas. These are seven funeral urns, two of them of important size, which were found between the roots of a fallen tree. Within these polls, fragments of human bones were found, as well as remains of Fish and turtles that suggest funeral rites linked to food. These polls can reveal important data on the indigenous cultures that inhabited this region of the Amazon basin. “They are large, without visible ceramic tapas, which could indicate the use of organic materials to seal them, which would have already broken down. They were buried at 40 cm deep, probably under old houses,” explained in a press release Geórgea Layla Holland, member of the team responsible for the finding. Lake Do Cochila. The discovery of these unique polls was made in the surroundings of Lago do Cochila, in the municipality of Fonte Boa, in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Located in the alluvial plains of the basin, this archaeological site was once part of a group of artificial islands built centuries ago (Maybe millennia) by the ancient inhabitants of the area. Archaeological remains found in this environment suggest that these elevations in flooded field would have allowed the construction of households and the development of social activities even in the flood time, explains the team. The artificial islands would have been created taking material from other places and transporting it to the plain. “It is a very sophisticated and ingenious engineering technique, which demonstrates land management and a significant population density in the past,” The archaeologist points out Márcio Amaral. A fundamental cooperation. The collaboration between archaeologists of the research group in Archeology and Cultural Heritage of the Amazon of the Mamirauá Institute and the local communities was instrumental in the development of archaeological prospecting, explains the team. The detection of these artifacts would not even have been possible without this collaboration: according to the team, it was the locals who initially detected ceramics Among the roots of a fallen tree. While initially they did not give importance to the finding, their photos caught the attention of archaeologists who got to work in the extraction and analysis of objects. Height excavation. The excavation of these polls was a technical challenge. The horizontal position of the tree that buried them left them suspended at height, which implied that their excavation had to be done in a not very conventional way. These local communities attended the team with the construction of a high structure that as a scaffold allowed access to these artifacts as well as their manipulation safely. Rumbo to Tefé. Among the challenges that the team had to face was also transport, which had to be done river. Depending on the river and transportation conditions used, traveling the 190 kilometers in a straight line that separate the deposit of the headquarters of the Mamirauá Institute may require between 10 and 12 hours of travel. We will have to wait for the polls to be studied at the facilities of the Mamirauá Institute to learn about new details about the finding. For now, the initial analyzes reveal the greenish color of the clay with which these urn were created, a clay that would have been identified in other contexts. A type of ceramic of great rarity that adds to the mystery of these strange funeral urns. In Xataka | The finding of a lot of garbage in a cave in Mexico has been something else: a fertility ritual 500 years ago Image | Marcio Amaral / Georgea Holland

We already know what substance the prehistoric Europeans for their shamanic rites consumed

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Some strands of hair 3,000 years hidden in a corner of the island of Menorca. It is all that a group of researchers needed to find direct evidence older of the consumption of psychoactive substances in Europe. Drugs attributed to local shamans and their religious rites, in which they would be used as sensory potentiars. How to get here. Until now the evidence of this type of substance in the past were indirect: samples found in vessels or remains of plants in the deposits, as pointed out in statements collected by The country Elisa Guerra twelve, one of the authors of the investigation. The strands in which the substances were detected had been dyed red and hairstyles before their cut. “Thanks to extraordinary conservation conditions, the hair and all the instruments used in their treatment have reached our days and have been able to be scientifically analyzed,” he explained In a press release Cristina Rihuete, another of the researchers involved in the finding. Three alkaloids. The substances identified in the strands are the efedrine, atropine and scopolamine alkaloids. The first of these substances is a stimulant today used, for example, as a bronchodilator. Atropine and scopolamine on the other hand are substances considered hallucinogenic and psychoactive. These substances can be found in different plants belonging to the insular flora of Menorca, such as the epfradra (Ephedra Fragilis), the mandragora (Mandragora Autumnalis), The White Beleño (Hyoscyamus albus) and the estramonium (Stramonium datura), All of them belonging to the Solanáceas family. A small necropolis. Due to the context, the researchers consider that drugs were consumed before dying. The capillary samples belong to ten individuals, of the 210 who could be buried in the cave. The fact that the funeral rite of these ten individuals was slightly different from that of the rest, together with the fact that other differences are not appreciated that could denote a society with classes, castes or other form of social stratification, makes researchers think that it was some kind of shamans or spiritual or religious leaders. Multidisciplinary team. The details about the investigation were published in An attrition In the magazine Scietific Reports. It details that the substances were found when performing a liquid chromatography of ultra high performance coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS). The team responsible for the finding was made up of prehistoriators and archaeologists from the University of Valladolid and the Research Group of Mediterranean Social Archeoecology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Asome-UB); and for Hermann M. Niemeyer, chemist from the University of Chile. Interior of the COVA des Càrritx (above); Vaso with a spoon and wood comb found in the Menorquín site (below). ASOME-UAB. It is Càrritx. Closed by a detachment about 2,800 years agothe Càrritx cave was rediscovered in 1995 by two local speleologists, Pere Arnau and Josep Márquez, who achieved in that year access to their interior. The cave is located northwest of the island of Menorca, about 10 kilometers from Ciutadella and extends throughout 170 meters, in a route in which seven rooms are distinguished, the first vestibular being, the place where the human remains were found. The other important part of this funeral complex was after a narrow passage, in room six. In it the archaeologists found the locks of human hair introduced in cylindrical containers created from of woodwood, heather and olive and bovid horn. Other objects such as glasses and a wooden comb were also found; ceramic pieces and a bronze blade. On either side of the Atlantic. The use of “shamanic drugs” is often associated with pre -Columbian cultures, but we have long known that it was actually much more widespread. A example of this is the use of derivatives of the cannabis In the China of the Zhou dynasty, 2,500 years ago. Guerra-Doce made A few years ago a Review to archaeological tests of drug and fermented drug use in prehistory. With the new work, our knowledge about the use of this type of chemicals expands. Perhaps we never know the details about the rituals in which the alkaloids found were used, but little by little we are knowing details about how they were who inhabited Europe millennia before us. And some things they had in common with us. Images (cover) | Jason Swanson, CC0 1.0 / Gugatchitchinadze, CC by-SA 4.0 In Xataka | The new era of psychedelia: how some “recreational” drugs want to help us with our mental health In Xataka | For thousands of years, Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens tried to mate insistently. Genetics had another idea

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